Proletariat jumps to front, gets no argument from field in Del Mar Derby
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DEL MAR, Calif. - Left alone on the lead, Proletariat won his second consecutive turf stakes in Sunday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Derby.
Proletariat won the Oceanside Handicap at a mile from the front on July 17, the opening day of the current meeting, and won Sunday’s $301,500 Del Mar Derby at 1 1/8 miles in the same manner.
On Sunday, Proletariat ($3.40) led by a length on the first turn, by two lengths on the backstretch and won by 1 1/4 lengths over 7-1 Bust Out.
“He kind of shook loose,” winning jockey Kyle Frey said. “We put them away.”
Proletariat was timed in 1:47.66, extending his winning streak to three races, all this year. Proletariat won an allowance race at six furlongs on turf at Santa Anita on May 15 in his first start of 2026, and first start as a gelding.
Trainer Jeff Mullins credited Frey for his work with Proletariat in training.
“Kyle’s done a lot of work getting the horse to slow down in the mornings, teaching him how to rate and settle,” Mullins said.
Bust Out, who was third for the first mile, racing about three lengths behind Proletariat, gained second in the final sixteenth. Bust Out is trained by Michael McCarthy.
"The race was kind of over at the three-eighths pole when no one engaged the winner,” McCarthy said.
Jordi Bear (7-1) closed from last to finish third, and was followed by Unrivaled Time, Melismatic, Charlie’s Curlin, Tribalism and Pavlovian.
Secured Freedom, second in the Oceanside, was withdrawn on Sunday morning. Trainer Tim Yakteen said Secured Freedom will be considered for the $125,000 Shared Belief Stakes for 3-year-olds on dirt at Del Mar on Sept. 6.
Pavlovian won the $500,000 Sunland Park Derby in February and was last of 18 in the Kentucky Derby. He has been well beaten in four starts since a second-place finish by a head in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds in March.
Proletariat, by Raging Bull, has won 4 of 7 starts and earned $389,400. He was third in two Grade 3 stakes at a mile on turf last summer and fall – the Del Mar Juvenile Turf and Zuma Beach Stakes at Santa Anita before he was gelded and turned out for the winter.
Purchased for $200,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale of 2-year-olds in-training sale in March 2025, Proletariat races for Ruben Islas and Michele Arthur.
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